Taxonomy: Kingdom - Plantae (plants). Subkingdom - Tracheobionta (vascular plants). Superdivision - Spermatophyta (seed plants). Division - Magnoliophyta (flowering plants). Class - Liliopsida (monocotyledons). Subclass - Lilidae. Order - Orchidales. Family - Orchidaceae (orchid family). Genus - Corallorhiza Gagnebin, orth. cons. (coralroot) Species -Corallorhiza mertensiana Bong.
Ecology: Pacific coralroot, also called Merten's coralroot, is found in the Pacific Northwest in moist to dry coniferous and mixed forests in an elevation range of 0-2300 m (FNA). Corallorhiza mertensiana (corallion – coral and rhiza – root; mertensiana – for the botanist Carl Franz Mertens) is named for how the rhizomes resemble ocean corals; it has no roots, just the hard, branched rhizomes (USFS). The expression of the anthocyanins (flavinoid pigments) varies from one individual or population to another, resulting in coralroot stalks and inflorescences that range from lavender to pale red, or creamy yellow if there are no anthocyanin pigments (USFS). Most orchids of the genus Corallorhiza are achlorophyllous (without chlorophyl) and mycoheterotrophic; they cannot photosynthesize and parasitize carbon from other plants via three species of ectomycorrhizal fungi in the genus Russula (Calscape; UTofA).
In a survey of the plants found in Glacier Bay, Alaska in 1923, Pacific coralroot was reported to be growing beneath the thickets of thinleaf alder (Alnus incana ssp. tenufolia) along with arctic sweet coltsfoot (Petasites frigidus), and sword fern (Polystichum munitum). In British Columbia is has been found to associate with salal (Gaultheria shallon), wood moss (Hylocomium splendens), and feather moss (Rhytidiadelphus loreus) (Calscape). In the Pacific Nowrthwest, Corallorhiza mertensiana is largely sympatric with spotted coralroot (Corallorhiza maculata) and occasionally interbreeds (FNA). Interestingly, Corallorhiza mertensiana never shares fungal species with Corallorhiza maculata, even when intermixed at the same growing site (Calscape).
